Viaplay Elite League: Glasgow Clan 1, Fife Flyers 2
Highly-rated netminder Shane Owen (pictured) produced a wonder save as Fife Flyers came from behind to snatch their fourth win of the season and move into seventh spot in the ten-strong Viaplay Elite League.
Canadian marksman Zack Phillips fired home with 52 seconds left on the clock to nudge Fife on to ten points from 15 games, a point ahead of Manchester Storm who have only played 12 matches.
However, Fife are now two points in front of Dundee Stars and five ahead of bottom club Glasgow Clan despite Stephen Dixon’s men heavily outshot their rivals in the first part of the game but it took until the 30th minute for Clan to break through.
Steven McPartland, the Glasgow club’s second top points gatherer, was on the mark after being set-up by Dyson Stevenson and coach Dixon. It was his third goal of the season.
Tempers flared and Flyers’ Chris Lawrence and Stevenson were called for fighting after 34 minutes. Both were sent to the sin bin for five minutes.
Flyers, sponsored by Wolseley, stuck to their task and counted after 47 minutes. Janne Kivilahti, their top marksman, and the Man of the Match, did the damage with his seventh league goal of the season after being set-up by Phillips and Mikael Johansson. It carried extra significance as it was Fife’s 900th in all Elite League competitions.
Owen then dived to his left to prevent a tap-in from Canadian Gabriel Chabot, stopping the puck with his glove hand with the forward only inches from the goal-line.
Glasgow’s new defenceman Jake Bolton was called for hooking as the pressure mounted, but Clan, backed by Aspray Glasgow West, survived his two minute penalty, a crucial kill for the home side.
However, 30-year-old centre ice Phillips fired Flyers into the lead with a goal inside the last minute after being set up by Christian Hausinger. He was skating near the half-way line, close to the right hand barrier and was fed by a cross ice pass from Brayden Sherbinin. Phillips skated in to pick up Hausinger’s pass and send the puck into the left hand side of the net past John Muse. Signal celebrations among the Fife fans in the 3,297 crowd.
Clan gambled by withdrawing netminder Muse to give themselves six skaters, but the move failed and Fife skated away with the two points leaving Clan on the bottom of the table with five points from 15 matches.
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